A transfer of finds can lag a business transaction, such as a purchase, by many days if a check or other negotiable instrument is used. This is because routing information must be read and processed, and the document must be transferred to a bank for funds to be exchanged. This time lag, or “float”, represents a substantial amount of time after transactions occur in which funds may accrue interest. It is therefore advantageous, to companies or institutions accepting checks as a form of payment, to process those checks as soon as possible after a transaction occurs.
It can be advantageous to electronically read routing information on checks and also to scan checks or other documents representing a purchase in such a scenario. Magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) is commonly used to read information embedded in checks and other documents. MICR has been used for quite some time in a variety of machines and devices. Machines in use presently perform document reads by passing a document down a document track and past a fixed MICR read head.
Those with skill in the art recognize the need for proper presentment and “wrap” of the document as it is passed over, or around, the read head. “Wrap” refers to how the document conforms around the MICR read head. A better wrap increases the accuracy of the MICR read head's character recognition. The proper wrap is further explained in U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,348.
To achieve adequate document wrap, existing solutions implement rollers, belts, springs, pressure pads and other devices to present the check to the read head. Machines implementing these devices only achieve proper presentment and wrap by moving the documents past a static MICR read head. These machines are referred to as dynamic devices, because the documents are in motion. Dynamic devices are large and costly. Dynamic devices require skilled technicians for repair and replacement if parts become worn or damaged.
Alternatively, a static solution can be used, where the document itself is static and the MICR read head is moved across the static document. Like dynamic devices, static devices require proper presentment and wrap to achieve adequate character recognition rates. Typically, static devices are not able to achieve proper presentment, resulting in misreads and non-reads. Lower recognition rates based on misreads and non-reads are costly to the banks and retail users of these static machines.
Therefore, improvements are desirable.